6 Valuable Lessons Dropshipping Taught Me About Entrepreneurship

As you may know by now, I started my career in ecommerce with a subscription box business that failed. My next crack at ecommerce was a dropshipping business that turned out to be a successful venture for me and taught me a whole lot of valuable lessons about running a business online.

Today, I was thinking about just how much I learned from dropshipping and how much I want to share that experience and that knowledge with you. I thought one great way to do that would be to tell you some of what I learned.

So here are 6 of the most valuable lessons dropshipping taught me about running an online business:

1. That mastering Facebook ads isn’t as easy as it looks.

One of the keys to my success in dropshipping was learning how to run Facebook ads effectively, and let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. It took a lot of trial and error, a lot of disappointment, and eventually me hiring a coach to teach me how to market my business effectively. 

I think that it’s important for any business, whose audience happens to be on Facebook, to be advertising on Facebook. So if there’s any skillset I can encourage you to learn, it’s Facebook ads. And Google ads. Trust me, fuck a flyer, learn how to run ads online.

2. That gaining a shopper’s trust is paramount.

I’ve talked about the Know, Like, Trust Factor here a lot, because it’s important. When you’re running a product based business, you may not need to plaster your face all over your brand to get people to like YOU, but they still need to know, like and trust your brand.

As a shopper, you don’t always think about all the little things you see on a website that make you trust it enough to enter your sacred credit card information to make a purchase, but trust me, there’s a ton of thought and understanding a buyer’s psychology that goes into building a trustworthy website. Everything from the layout, to button color, to the words used to describe the product matters.

And that really goes for every aspect of your business. If potential customers don’t trust you, they just won’t buy from you.

3. That providing great customer service always pays off.

As an entrepreneur, you have to understand that you can’t please everyone. There will inevitably be someone, somewhere who is unhappy with the product or service you provided and you can rest assured, they are going to let you know about it. 

Sometimes they’re polite about it, sometimes they’ll choose to yell at you about it. You have to accept that as part of the game, and decide that no matter what, you’ll be respectful, professional, and you’ll always do everything in your power to make it right and satisfy your customers.

When you treat people kindly, even when they’re being assholes, they remember it and appreciate you for it.

4. That building an email list is gold.

A lot of small businesses neglect building an email list. It’s super important that you have some sort of email capture program installed on your website and that you’re getting people to sign up for your list.

It’s much easier (and cheaper) to get someone who has already spent money with you to spend money with you again than it is to get someone who has never spent money with you to do so for the first time. Nurture your email list and turn the people on it into fans.

5. That I really like Shopify for selling physical products.

I decided to go with Shopify as the platform for my website and I absolutely love them. A lot of really huge ecommerce brands, Fashion Nova being one, use Shopify. 

It’s because they’re affordable and they make it easy to build your business on their platform with all of the apps and add-ons that you can add with the click of a button. If you want to sell physical products or digital downloads, I would highly recommend Shopify. You can get a free trial here.

6. That an online business can change your circumstances fast!

I’ve said 1,000,0001 times that starting a business online is — in my opinion — the best type of business to start. It drastically reduces start up costs, cuts overhead, and gives you the ability to reach people all over the world.

Another thing is that when you sell online, your website and ads will be better than the best sales people you could ever hire, because they work for you around the clock. Once you find the right balance of product, marketing, and customer service magic, your business could change your life forever!

Are you interested in starting an online business? If so, sign up for my free Masterclass where I tell you 3 Easy Ways You Can Turn Your Passion Into an Online Business. You can grab a spot by clicking the link below.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR MY FREE MASTERCLASS

Then find me on Instagram or Facebook and let me know which one you think is best for you.

Also, if you know someone who might enjoy this article, please share it with them. And listen to my podcast, Master Your Mission, for daily motivation and inspiration to pursue your dreams.